STOPPED IN THE AREA YESTERDAY AROUND NOON TO CONTACT THEM. Devin: NOW TO THE CRY FOR HELP FROM WAYNE COUNTY PROSECUTOR KYM WORTHY WHO IS ASKING FOR AN AUDIENCE WITH THE WAYNE COUNTY COMMISSION SO SHE CAN EXPLAIN THE DEADLY SITUATION. Carmen: SHE SAID IT'S CAUSING SERIOUS PROBLEMS FOR ALL WAYNE COUNTY RESIDENTS AND IS DESPERATE TO GET MORE MONEY TO STEM THE TIDE. LET'S GO TO BUSINESS EDITOR ROD MELONI LIVE DOWNTOWN WITH THE STORY. THIS IS A SERIOUS CALL TO ACTION. Rod: IT IS. AND IT'S NOT LIKE WE HAVEN'T HEARD KYM WORTHY SAY THINGS LIKE THIS BEFORE. SHE SAID SHE NEEDS $12 MILLION MORE DOLLARS AND HAS NO HOPE OF GETTING IT AND SHE SAID ALL OF THIS HAS SERIOUS CONSEQUENCES. WE'RE TALKING ABOUT STAFF. Rod: PROSECUTOR KYM WORTHY ALL BUT BEGGED FOR FINANCIAL HELP DURING A RECENT MEETING WITH BIG-CITY PROSECUTORS, SHE SAID. WE'RE A LAUGHINGSTOCK. THEY USE US AS AN EXAMPLE OF HOW NOT TO FUND THE OFFICE. Rod: SHE GAVE NUMBERS. 180 STAFFERS, MOSTLY LAWYERS. AND THEY KEEP LEAVING BECAUSE THEIR PAY IS BELOW SMALLER COMMUNITIES AND HAS 73 JOB OPENINGS, MOSTLY ATTORNEYS, AND NO MONEY TO BACK THE EMPTY DESKS. SHE HAS A BACKLOG OF 180 CHILD ABUSE ARREST WARRANTS, 75 CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE WARRANTS AND 40 HOMICIDE WARRANTS FOR LACK OF INVESTIGATORS. AND NOW CRIME CONVICTION RATES ARE DOWN 20% FROM TWO YEARS AGO BECAUSE OF OVERWORKED AND UNDERPREPARED LAWYERS. NOT MEETING THE WITNESSES, NOT TALKING TO THEM AT ALL, NOT TALKING TO THE POLICE WITNESSES, NOT KNOWING IF YOU HAVE THE EVIDENCE THERE, HANDING IT OFF TO A PROSECUTOR WHO HAS NEVER SEEN THE CASE. IF THAT'S ACCEPTABLE BEHAVIOR TO OUR VICTIMS OF CRIME, THEN I GUESS WE'RE DOING OKAY. Rod: SHE UPDATED THE CRIME LAB RAEB TESTING FROM THE OLD POLICE DEPARTMENT CRIME LAB. 1600 HAVE BEEN TESTED. A THIRD HAD TESTABLE DNA AND 60% HAVE HITS AND THE SYSTEM IDENTIFIED 59 SERIAL RAPISTS. THESE ARE RAPISTS ON THE STREETS FOR THE LAST 25 YEARS. Rod: AND SHE SAID THE SERIAL RAPISTS HAVE SPREAD ACROSS THE COUNTRY TO ABOUT 12 OTHER STATES. THIS IS A HUGE PROBLEM, SHE SAYS. SHE IS INVITING THE AUDIT COMMITTEE FROM THE WAYNE COUNTY COMMISSION TO VISIT WITH HER AND GET A FIRSTHAND LOOK AT HOW IT'S GOING. THE COUNTY COMMISSIONERS SAID THEY'RE SYMPATHETIC BUT DON'T

DETROIT -

“We’re treated like crap.”

Those are the words spoken by Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy on the environment in her office.

Worthy says her office's depleted budget is causing serious problems for all Wayne County residents and she's desperate to get more money to stem the tide.

"We are a laughingstock. In fact, they use us an example of how not to fund the office,” she said.

Worthy spoke the words at a recent meeting with other big city prosecutors.

She gave numbers to back up her case.

She budgets for 180 staffers, mostly lawyers, because lawyers and investigators keep leaving the office, over low pay. She has 73 job openings, most of those attorneys – with no money to backfill the open desks.

In terms of the impact on crime, Worthy said she has a backlog of 180 child abuse arrest warrants, 75 child sex abuse warrants and 40 homicide warrants.

Worthy said crime conviction rates are down 20 percent from two years ago because of overworked and under-prepared lawyers.

Worthy said witnesses and police are not being talked to and files are being handed over to prosecutors who haven’t even read the case before trying it in court.

“If that’s acceptable behavior to our victims of crime in this county, then I guess we’re doing OK,” Worthy said.

Of the infamous Detroit crime lab rape kit testing, Worthy said of the 11,000 found kits, 1,600 had been tested - about a third had testable DNA. Out of that group, Worthy said, nearly 60 percent have hits and the system had identified 59 serial rapists.

Copyright 2013 by ClickOnDetroit.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Comments

The views expressed below are not those of Click On Detroit, WDIV, or its affiliated companies. By clicking on "Post," you acknowledge that you have read the Terms of Service and your comment is in compliance with such terms. Readers, please help keep this discussion respectful and on topic by flagging comments that are offensive or inappropriate (hover over the commenter's name and you'll see the flag option appear on right side of that line). And remember, respect goes both ways: Tolerance of others' opinions is important in a free discourse. If you're easily offended by strong opinions, you might skip reading comments entirely.